The European Second-Hand E-Commerce Market Is Booming, 700 Million Items Traded in One Year
The market value of the second-hand economy is still rising.
01 Market size reaches 21.6 billion euros
The perception that “second-hand products are unwanted items used by others” has become a thing of the past. Nowadays, more people believe that “it is not that I cannot afford brand new, but second-hand goods are more cost-effective.” Against this background, more and more young consumers are flocking to second-hand platforms to look for affordable good products, fueling the vigorous development of the second-hand economy.
Data released by Amazon officially shows that the size of the European second-hand e-commerce market has reached an astonishing 21.6 billion euros, with more than two-thirds of consumers having purchased second-hand goods, and it is expected to grow by another 2 billion euros by 2025. Among them, German consumers show the greatest willingness to buy second-hand products, contributing 6.5 billion euros. In addition, in 2024, more than 740 million products have already circulated in the European second-hand market.
It can be said that the second-hand economy has been fully nourished on European soil and is growing vigorously. Mariangela Marseglia, Vice President of Amazon EU Stores, said: “In 2024, the sales of second-hand goods on Amazon Europe and the UK exceeded 2 billion euros.” On just the Amazon platform alone, sales of second-hand goods reached as high as 2 billion euros, which shows how huge the market potential behind it is.
It is worth mentioning that the trend of the second-hand economy is spreading to every corner of the world.
Previously, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry conducted a survey on 1,000 Korean consumers aged 20 to 50 who had second-hand trading experiences in the past year, and released the “Survey on the Use of Second-Hand Products and Innovation Report on the Circular Circulation Business Model.” The data pointed out that 75.3% of respondents had a positive attitude toward second-hand product transactions, 22.8% held a neutral attitude, and only 1.9% were not very accepting of second-hand trading. In the U.S. market, ThredUp’s “2025 Resale Report” survey pointed out that 68% of Gen Z and Millennials purchased second-hand products, an increase of 3 percentage points compared with last year.
The vigorous development of the second-hand e-commerce market worldwide is the result of multiple factors intertwined. One very important point is cost savings. Data from Amazon and the UK Centre for Economics and Business Research showed that second-hand trading saved British consumers 5.6 billion pounds in living costs in 2024.
02 Betting on the Second-Hand Economy
When “decluttering” becomes a lifestyle trend, when “cost-effectiveness” becomes an important consideration in consumer decision-making, and when “sustainability” becomes a global consensus, the second-hand economy is sweeping the global market with unstoppable momentum.
It can be seen that second-hand product trading is no longer a helpless choice, but has become a lifestyle that combines environmental protection concepts and economic wisdom.
Against this background, the global second-hand economy has entered a stage of rapid development, with business opportunities surging wildly behind it. Data released by Transparency Market Research shows that from 2023 to 2031, the size of the global resale market will continue to grow to 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.6%. Such a huge market scale is enough to make anyone tempted.
Indeed, facing the huge potential and rapid growth trend of the global second-hand market, major e-commerce giants have adjusted their strategies one after another, increasing their investment in the second-hand market, trying to seize market share through launching new businesses, carrying out cooperation, and engaging in mergers and acquisitions, attempting to get a piece of this “second-hand feast.” A fierce competition surrounding the second-hand market has already begun.
As one of the earliest e-commerce platforms to engage in second-hand trading, eBay, with its huge user base and rich transaction experience, occupies an important position in the second-hand market. In terms of category expansion, eBay almost covers all categories of second-hand products, from daily necessities to high-end luxury goods, from antique collectibles to modern technology products, meeting the diverse needs of different consumers. In the first half of this year, eBay’s refurbishment program “eBay Refurbished,” which was previously only open to U.S. sellers, has been expanded to the Japanese market.
In fact, it is not surprising that e-commerce giants are willing to bet on the second-hand economy, because it is indeed highly profitable. Walmart stated at its recent annual shareholders meeting that its e-commerce platform’s second-hand luxury fashion segment has grown by more than 200% so far this year.
However, it should be noted that although the prospects for the second-hand e-commerce market are broad, doing this business well is not easy. Counterfeits and fraud are the most troublesome problems. Some unscrupulous sellers pass off inferior goods as good ones. For example, in electronic products, it is not uncommon to see assembled machines being passed off as genuine. To completely solve the problems of counterfeits and fraud in the second-hand e-commerce market, there is still a long way to go. In the future, platforms, governments, industry associations, and consumers will need to work together to form a joint force.
In general, with consumers’ increasing attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, as well as the further shift in consumer perception, second-hand trading is no longer a niche behavior, but is gradually developing into a huge economic system. In the future, the second-hand market will inevitably become a golden track of explosive dividends. Everyone can conduct in-depth market research, find a development path suitable for themselves, and strive to seize this wave of business opportunities as soon as possible.
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